(Photo credit: LG Text Ed)

You can find them in the most innocent settings. The dinner table, the classroom, during evening homework hour or an otherwise quiet family walk. Clicking, clacking, beeping, buzzing and whirring. This maneuvering marauder? Mobile phones equipped with text messaging. These devices are exploding in use among the current generation and teens seem programmed to use them constantly.

A happy medium exists. Commonsense and responsible use of technology is within reach. To many parents the mobile culture is unfamiliar. We’re hosting a Generation Mobile forum next Tuesday bringing together teens, parents, educators and experts. During this event we’ll do our best to help parents navigate these challenging issues.

We’ll discuss cyberbullying, sexting, over use, privacy, and texting-while-driving. The Pew Internet and American Life project will present their findings from a landmark study, “Kids and Mobile Phones.”

For the Gleeks in the audience we’re pleased that actress and comedienne Jane Lynch, of LG’s Text Ed campaign, will be joining us remotely. Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes the book upon which the movie Mean Girls was based, will join FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in hosting the first panel “Generation Mobile Speaks” featuring teens, parents and educators. The second panel, “Ask the Experts About Generation Mobile” will feature experts from SafetyWeb, Facebook, Sprint and other major mobile and technology players. A full list of panelists and speakers is below.

This event is about you. We’ve lined up an impressive slate of experts for our sessions on kids, teens and mobile phones. What do you want to know when they take the stage Tuesday? We’ve filled in a couple of starter questions to stimulate ideas. Far more importantly we want to hear from you. Type in your question, wait for User Voice to generate and then click “Create New Idea” below the box. Ask your questions now.

We’re honored to be hosted by DC’s own, cutting edge McKinley Technology High School (151 T Street Northeast). The event will take place on Tuesday December 14th from 10am to 1pm ET. If you’re able to join us – free of charge – please RVSP to generationmobile [at] fcc [dot] gov. Since most of you are outside of the DC area we’ll be live streaming this exciting event online at fcc.gov/live. Participate through Twitter using #genmobile.

Stay tuned. We’ll post updates to the agenda and the speaker list as they become available.

Speakers and Panelists Include:

• Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman
• Jane Lynch, Emmy Winning Actress and Spokesperson for the LG Text Ed Council
• Rosalind Wiseman, Author of Queen Bees and Wannabes, basis for Mean Girls the movie
• Tim Sparapani, Director of Public Policy, Facebook
• Parry Aftab, Kids Technology Expert and Creator of Stopcyberbullying.org
• Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist, Pew Research Center
• Marsali Hancock, President, Internet Keep Safe Coalition
• Michael Clark, Co-Founder, SafetyWeb
• Dr. Michael Levine, Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center
• Maureen Cooney, Privacy Officer, Sprint
• Stephen Balkam, CEO, Family Online Safety Institute
• K. Dane Snowden, Vice President, CTIA
• Alan Simpson, Vice President, Common Sense Media
• Lanita Preston, Author and mother of Frank Preston
• Stacey A. Kopnitsky, Assistant Principal, Cabin John Middle School
• Dwan Jordan, Principal, Sousa Middle School, Washington, DC
• And we’ll hear from a panel of teens about how they use mobile technology

(Cross posted on the Official FCC Blog.)